Resources for Clinical Practice

Learn how to become a certifying provider in Hawaiʻi’s Medical Cannabis Program. Get started. Looking for more medical cannabis education.? See CME courses below.
Medical Cannabis Core Competencies
- JAMA Network Open article Developing Medical Cannabis Competencies, A Consensus Statement
  Medical cannabis is an evolving area of clinical care. Published core competencies can help clinicians understand the knowledge and skills needed to discuss cannabis with patients in a safe, informed, and evidence-based way.
Continuing Medical Education for Clinicians

Explore CME/CE opportunities that support learning in one or more medical cannabis core competency areas and help strengthen informed patient conversations.
- The Hawaii Medical Cannabis Course
  Specifically developed to meet the unique needs of healthcare providers practicing in Hawaii to stay informed, confidently discuss cannabis use with patients, and offer evidence-based guidance on cannabinoid therapies. 4 CME/CE credits composed of 2 courses: 1) Hawaii State Medical Cannabis Program Rules and Regulations, 2) Cannabis and Cannabinoids in Clinical Practice. Offered by The Answer Page.
- Introduction to Cannabinoid Medicine CME Course
  3-hr CME AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ enduring video presentation covers Endocannabinoid System in humans, basic chemistry of cannabinoid medications, delivery systems, and more. Offered by Association of Cannabinoid Specialists.
- Medical Marijuana Continuing Medical Education
  Accredited Medical Cannabis Online Continuing Education Certification for Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, Dentists, Social Workers and Psychologists. Offered by Medical Marijuana 411.
- Medical Cannabis Training Curriculum
  The Clinical Training Curriculum is available as individual courses or as part of a module package and includes nursing and pharmacy curriculum. Curriculum package providing comprehensive cannabinoid education for medical professionals to date. Offered by Society of Cannabis Clinicians.
Advanced Cannabis Competency Courses

These advanced clinical courses support clinicians seeking to deepen their medical cannabis knowledge, strengthen competency-based practice, and improve patient conversations around cannabis use, safety, risks, and care considerations.
- Credo Science
  Masters Cannabis Online Education Certification for Medical and Healthcare Professionals. Offered by Medical Marijuana 411 and Dr. Ethan Russo.
- Learn Medical Cannabis
  Science based cannabis education for professionals and consumers seeking to guide patients safely and effectively. Offered by Dr. Dustin Sulak.
Clinical Education Resources
- Information for Health Care Professionals: Cannabis (marihuana, marijuana) and the cannabinoids
  Published 2018, Health Canada. Provides information on the use of cannabis and cannabinoids for medical purposes.
- Consensus recommendations on dosing and administration of medical cannabis to treat chronic pain: results of a modified Delphi process
  Consensus by global task force in 2021 on three protocols (routine, conservative, rapid) for dosing and administration of medical cannabis for chronic pain, focusing on safety and effectiveness based on prescribers’ observations in practice.
- Consensus‐based recommendations for titrating cannabinoids and tapering opioids for chronic pain control
  Using a modified Delphi process to find expert consensus‐based recommendations, this article provides a practical guidance algorithm on how to safely and effectively titrate cannabinoids and taper opioids in patients with chronic pain.
- Perioperative Pain and Addiction Interdisciplinary Network (PAIN): consensus recommendations for perioperative management of cannabis and cannabinoid-based medicine users
  An expert Delphi-based method was used to develop and evaluate a set of recommendations to help guide the care of patients consuming cannabis in the perioperative period.
Cannabis Clinical Screening Tools and Assessments
- The Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test – Revised (CUDIT-R)
  A brief 8-item tool to help healthcare professionals screen for risky cannabis use and possible Cannabis Use Disorder.
- The Marijuana Withdrawal Checklist (MWC)
  A self-report checklist to help clinicians and researchers identify, monitor, and track cannabis withdrawal symptoms after reducing or stopping frequent use.
- Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome
  A clinical resource to help identify Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome symptoms and guide patient education and referral.
Online resources

Healer

Realm of Caring

Books

Cannabis: A Handbook for Nurses
Published 2021, American Cannabis Nurses Association. Addresses nursing skills and responsibilities in cannabis care, including the physiology of the human endocannabinoid system, cannabis care as it relates to specific disease processes, the history of cannabis, advocacy and ethics, and the ins and outs of cannabis dosing, delivery methods, side effects, and more.

Cannabis is Medicine
A clinician-authored book that explains the endocannabinoid system, cannabis compounds, dosing, potential side effects, and patient case examples.

The Doctor Approved Cannabis Handbook
The Doctor-Approved Cannabis Handbook covers how safe cannabis use can help individuals manage the symptoms of a variety of common conditions.

Handbook of Cannabis for Clinicians
Evidence based guidance to help clinicians discuss cannabis with patients and implement cannabinoid therapies with confidence.

Medical cannabis research

As a healthcare provider, would you like your patients to contribute to medical cannabis research? In partnership with Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) and the Realm of Caring (ROC), Hawaiʻi residents have the opportunity to participate in scientific research aimed at better understanding the potential health benefits and risks associated with cannabis and hemp use.

Hawai‘i residents who are beginning medical cannabis use and are cannabis-naïve are invited to enroll in the National Cannabis Study (NCS) The study aims to better understand who uses cannabis therapies, the conditions they treat, the types of products used, and how cannabis affects health, sleep, pain, mood, and medication use. Participants may also volunteer to provide blood samples for biomarker analysis at no cost, and they will receive results, including liver function, diabetes, and inflammation markers, to review with their healthcare providers.

Hawai‘i residents who are already using cannabis or hemp are invited to enroll in the Realm of Caring’s Observational Research Registry (ORR), a global effort that tracks both users and non‐users over time to build a comprehensive dataset on product use, benefits, and adverse effects. Participants in this registry will not provide lab samples.

Cannabis Education & Resources

Cannabis Education and Resources